Workers Set to Strike at Korean Auto Plants

General Motors Korea employees represented by the Korea Metal Workers Union will put down their tools for six hours on all shifts on July 10 and July 12 and for a full 8-hour shift July 13, the union says in a posting on its website.

The planned actions were set after union members voted July 3 to authorize a strike, following 12 rounds of contract talks between GM Korea management and the union. Negotiations have been ongoing since May.

“It’s a pretty normal process, and both sides are committed to reaching a fair understanding that is in all of our interests,” a GM Korea spokesman says of the planned strike action.

Labor unions at both Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors also have told management they are planning 1-day partial strikes on July 12 and July 20. Their members will vote July 10 on whether to authorize the walkouts.

In other years when there were strikes, the pattern was to continue with partial shutdowns during negotiations to keep pressure on management.

The union says “Hyundai management is being complacent,” because there was no strike action during the past three years, when analysts say the union was led by a more conciliatory president.

Temporary-worker unions, which represent the employees of in-house suppliers, present another problem for all three auto makers.

Hyundai’s temporary workers voted July 5 to approve strike action. Holding strategic jobs throughout the production process, a strike by temporary workers could cause plant shutdowns.

The union representing Hyundai’s regular workers has vowed not to settle with management unless the demands of temporary workers are met and they are reclassified as full-time employees.

The temporary-worker situation is extremely complex, analysts note. As a partial remedy Hyundai is converting about 1,500 positions of in-plant suppliers to temporary-employee status, with the workers being paid directly by Hyundai.

However, temporary-worker union officials say Hyundai is limiting employment contracts to just six months and contend the action is an attempt to dodge demands that workers be granted regular full-time status.

The temporary-worker matter could have widespread ramifications for the entire Hyundai Group, which includes more than 40 affiliated and cross-owned companies.

Union representatives say that while about one-quarter of Hyundai Motor’s workforce consists of employees of in-house suppliers, the situation is much more pronounced at other companies within the group.

Seventy percent of the workers at Hyundai Mobis are employees of in-house suppliers, as are 42% at Hyundai Steel and 20% at Hyundai Rotem, the union says.

The Korea Metal Workers Union sets the basic wage and working-conditions demands for the regular worker unions at all of Korea’s auto companies.

The 2012 demands include a monthly salary increase of 150,000 won ($135), a 30% share of 2011 net profits to be paid in bonuses and an end to all night-shift operations.

Analysts note the share of net profits would be equivalent to nearly half a year’s wages for most regular full-time unionized workers.